FAURJ

The Code-Switching and Confluence of Languages in ’s (1993)

Sarah Stamos and Carmen Cañete-Quesada Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College

Abstract: “The Code-Switching and Confluence of Languages in Esmeralda Santiago’s When I was Puerto Rican (1993)” is an essay/article written to produce and analyze thought on the style of code-switching of Spanish-English bilinguals. Santiago’s memoir details her young life in in a rural home and society and then how she had to transition when she and her family moved to New York. Code-switching is when, in reference to Spanish and English, a person who speaks English will substitute an English word or phrase for a Spanish word or phrase. This occurs primarily with bilinguals. In When I was Puerto Rican, Santiago includes some Spanish words in her English context (because her primary language is English), practicing code-switching. This essay demonstrates the fundamentals of code-switching, how it is detailed in When I was Puerto Rican, and how events in history aided to its modern formation.

“Code-switching” and the confluence of lan- The investigators discuss code-switching by ref- guages has been a linguistic manifestation of the erencing Spanish-English bilinguals and Chi- encounters between people of different cultures. nese-English bilinguals. In addition, they give Specifically concerning Spanish and English be- an example of the mechanics associated with tween the Caribbean and the , the code-switching by considering a specific sen- convergence of these two languages has greatly tence and studying how multilingual individuals heightened with the ever-continuing influx of incorporate more than one language: immigrants from Spanish-speaking countries. This is primarily due to migration movements (1) I want a motorcycle VERDE. In this sen- as well as U.S. influence in Puerto Rico, which tence, the English word “green” is replaced became a commonwealth of the United States in with its Spanish equivalent. A noteworthy 1898. This essay is going to analyze the linguis- aspect of sentence (1) above is that the Span- tic impact of the U.S. influence in Puerto Rican ish adjective “verde” follows a grammati- society that has caused linguistic interferences in cal rule that is observed by most bilingual language and at the mechanics of code-switch- speakers that code-switch. Thus, according ing in Esmeralda Santiago’s memoir, When I was to the specific grammatical rule-governing Puerto Rican. This is to demonstrate how the sentence (1) above, sentence (2) I want a acculturation of Spanish-speaking societies has VERDE motorcycle would be incorrect be- facilitated the phenomenon of code-switching cause language switching can occur between and what effect this confluence has had on the an adjective and a noun, only if the adjective people as they incorporated themselves in the is placed according to the rules of the lan- U.S. To first understand the linguistic impact guage of the adjective. In this case, the ad- of code-switching, one must first understand jective is in Spanish; therefore, the adjective its technicality. Roberto R. Heredia and Jeffrey must follow the Spanish grammatical rule M. Brown explore the logistics of this linguis- that states that the noun must precede the tic process in their article “Code-Switching” adjective (1) (Heredia & Brown). as they describe how bilinguals tend to blend their languages when they communicate and John M. Lipski (2005) poses an interesting and how the amalgamated sentences follow a specif- legitimate topic in his article “Code-switching or ic structure. Heredia and Brown describe it as Borrowing? No sé so no puedo decir, you know.” the “phenomenon [that] occurs when bilinguals He discusses how multilinguals will code-switch substitute a word or phrase from one language by speaking Spanish and adding an English word with a phrase or word from another language.” every now and then. Some of these words in

Volume 5 Spring 2016 31 FAURJ particular are so, but, anyways, I mean, and you galog, Arabic, Hebrew, Cantonese, Berber, Na- know; however, it is noted that this switch with huatl, and Polish, but I am specifically discussing words, according to Lipski, only happens among the linguistic tendency of bilingualism in Puerto true bilinguals: Rican diaspora. This tendency occurs gradually It would appear that the placement of En- and not deliberately with the contact of English glish so and similar items [(but, anyways, language because they are completing the ac- I mean, and you know)] into Spanish dis- tion of incorporating something new into their course in the United States began as inser- vocabulary. When a Hispanic person comes to tion among immigrants and among vesti- a new area he/she initially is still extremely at- gial or transitional bilinguals, and evolved tached to their language, culture, and ideals. lexicalization. (7) Leisurely, they begin to accept more and more of U.S. culture and begin to slightly change. This is It evolved into lexicalization because people get when code-switching is especially prominent— used to saying a particular phrase and thus in- when the speaker uses his/her own language and corporate it into their vocabulary. An example of borrows a term (or “functional item” according so used and an example of you know used from to Lipski [3]) from another language that he/she Lipski’s article are “...y yo soy el mayor de la fa- knows very well. milia, so yo tuve que ir a trabajar…” and “…una película que tenga un tema, you know, Ud. sabe, The introduction of Puerto Rican people to U.S. un tema especial…” (5). Likewise, so crosses society and vice versa occurred due to some spe- many boundaries in language and as specified by cific historical events. Starting with some basic Lipski, “so-insertion is one of the few bilingual history, Puerto Rico achieved its independence switching phenomena to occur in both bilingual from Spain in 1898 and then became a colony of and second-language speech” (3). “The incorpo- the United States following the Treaty of Paris. ration of so potentially represents a window of The Jones Act in 1917 then granted Puerto Ri- opportunity, highlighting the means by which cans U.S. citizenship. In 1947 the functional elements from one language grad- elected their own governor and in 1948 their ually insert themselves into another language first elected governor was Luis Muñoz Marín. during bilingual encounters” (3). This could be Finally, in 1952, Puerto Rico became a com- happening due to the question of time, due to monwealth of the United States. Additionally, that while the speaker is saying “so” he is provid- Operation Bootstrap (in Spanish known as Op- ing time to think of the next sentence in Spanish. eración manos a la obra) was established in 1947. Code-switching occurs in a variety of ways, one It transformed Puerto Rico from an agricultural of which is, where Lipski (2005) states, “calques economy into an industrial economy that was in- of idiomatic expressions in English [calques credibly developed. Operation Bootstrap created being another word for loan translation] are strong economic growth, but the rapid modern- frequent when speaking Spanish, with fewer ization was disadvantageous in that there were cases of Spanish calques in English discourse, negative social effects, like the accompaniment and numerous loans from English are present.” of “an absolute decrease in employment” due to And, relating to the previous paragraph, Lipski the introduction “of industries of higher produc- details that “unassimilated English words may tivity,” (Economy: Operation Bootstrap). The be freely inserted whenever the Spanish word is time period of Operation Bootstrap was also a unknown,” which is what is normally seen when time when Puerto Rican migration to the United code-switching is witnessed. An example he States (especially “Nueva York”) increased con- provides is “Anyway, yo creo que las personas who siderably. support todos estos grupos como los Friends of the Earth son personas que are very close to nature.” The effects of U.S. intervention in Puerto Rico through the Operation Bootstrap and other acts Lipski (2005) references Spanish-English bilin- created to control the commonwealth’s econo- guals, French-English bilinguals, Italian-English my is shown in Esmeralda Santiago’s memoir, bilinguals, as well as languages from distinctly “When I was Puerto Rican.” Santiago’s memoir different families such as Korean, Japanese, Ta- details her life as a child living in Puerto Rico.

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She begins her life living in the rural Mancun, plemented its primary language of English, es- Puerto Rico with her mother, father, and two pecially into the teaching of it into Puerto Rico’s sisters. She grows up with the hardships of liv- schools. Throughout Santiago’s memoir she uti- ing in a rural area but is content. Her father lizes code-switching. Concerning Santiago’s spe- is not around very much and her mother has cific case, she grew up in Puerto Rico and then three other children in her young life. When moved to New York when she was a teenager. her mother gets a real job because they need She struggled at first but soon assimilated into money, Esmeralda (Negi) has to do more work U.S. culture, which she reflects in her epilogue of as the oldest child. They have to move to places the book. Now, English is her primary language such as Santurce, and stay with family/friends and that can be seen as she writes her memoir dealing with a variety of living conditions. Due in English. The code-switching occurs as she to one of her younger brothers getting terribly incorporates Spanish words occasionally that injured Esmeralda’s mother starts going to New better describe something from her childhood York occasionally until finally the entire family more accurately than an English word could. (minus her father) move to New York. Initially Examples of this are words like asopao because Esmeralda hates living in New York and the lan- an English word cannot describe a “meat or fish guage barrier is a struggle for her. She struggles soup thickened with rice and potatoes,” (271) some at school but tries incredibly hard because —a soup basically made out of leftovers—or a she wants to do better, especially when she tries bodega which is a “neighborhood grocery store” to get into a performing arts school. The mem- (272) (When I was Puerto Rican). Another fan- oir ends with Esmeralda finally getting into the tastic example of this is when Negi (Esmeralda) performing arts school (not because the inter- finds a tapeworm in her underwear and calls it viewers were impressed by her performance, but a solitaria and then her mother gives them all because they were impressed by her courage— (she and her siblings) a broth of her own con- which is demonstrated throughout the memoir) coction called purgante (69). Purgante describes and eventually attending a year at Harvard, just this concoction better than an English word showing how far she came. like “medicinal soup” would because purgante is more specific because in Spanish it has more Esmeralda experienced many things at a young meaning to it or more details associated with the age, especially during a few scenes where im- word. This is how code-switching works; a word perialism is discussed and detailed through her from one’s original language might describe a experiences. Some of these encounters with thing or situation better in their mind than the imperialism include when her father briefly dis- new language. This shows that there are multi- cussed it with her, when she was introduced to it ple causes of code-switching—this previous ex- through another student, and primarily through ample and also if a person who speaks English the centro communal; the centro communal was a as a first language were trying to speak Spanish community center provided by the government and did not know the Spanish word for a specific where the children would go receive free break- situation; so, that person forms his/her Spanish fast and informational tips and parents received sentences and inserts the English word where education on diet and hygiene for their chil- it is needed. Dana Cole creates a correlation dren (it was educational programming from the between language and identity in her article “A U.S.). This initial step of educational program- Linguistic journey to the border.” She describes ming from American culture permeating into how “language is an integral aspect of identity, Puerto Rican society is where the confluence both on a personal level, and on a broader social of Puerto Rican Spanish and English occurs. level” and even goes on to quote Chicana writer Code-switching begins here on a larger scale Gloria Anzaldúa who has stated “ethnic identi- with the permeation of American culture and ty is twin skin to linguistic identity—I am my this is shown in Nilita Vientós Gastón’s article language.” She discusses the evils of robbing a The Supreme Court of Puerto Rico and the Lan- people of its language, because this is what hap- guage Problem where she discusses how since pens when colonization occurs, which is almost the United States took over Puerto Rico there what happened to Puerto Rico when it became a has been confusion as the United States has im- colony of the United States (now it is technical-

Volume 5 Spring 2016 33 FAURJ ly a bilingual society, even though many Puer- The title of her memoir, When I was Puerto Ri- to Ricans who live in the island are not fluent can, demonstrates a transitional period because in English). Language is a powerful thing and she was raised in a Spanish-speaking household code-switching makes it even more powerful. but with the contact with U.S. culture in the Cole discusses why it can be so powerful when mainland, she gradually favored the English lan- she quotes Anzaldúa again saying, “because lan- guage towards her mother tongue to communi- guage can be manipulated, it can also be used cate—when in the United States, she was Puerto as a means to express, reinterpret, redefine and Rican; when in Puerto Rico, she was American. revolt against a static unitary notion of identity She has lost her nationality due to language as and the social world.” Extracting the correlation she talks about in her memoir. It is a curious out even further, code-switching and the manip- thing to witness the different facets of how lan- ulation of language causes creative flexibility and guage is beneficial towards a person in their innovation, thus drawing out even greater pos- diversity but can then be harmful to them. It sibilities for a culture. Cole goes on to discuss becomes harmful when they begin losing touch the relationship between language and identity with where they came from and their roots, but further by saying how “language is a key compo- it is beneficial in that it helps them gain some nent of ethnicity” and nationalism and positively leverage in becoming a part of a new society. helps people differentiate themselves. This re- Different degrees of “transculturalization” oc- lates to what most Hispanics and Puerto Ricans cur with Spanish-speaking peoples and this is have been dealing with for years and are also where the difference between language identities dealing with right now—how their identity is occurs. When a person is bilingual, it makes associated with their language. Santiago relates them more diverse and possibly more powerful. the difficulties felt through her memoir and also When a Spanish-speaking person comes to the through what she personally says on her website United States and English then becomes their by talking about how her identity changed based primary language, as in Santiago’s case, it can be on her language. She explains this with: detrimental to how their nationality is viewed by their own people. The confluence of Puerto Rican culture and American culture has a push- “When I returned to Puerto Rico after pull relationship. Go too far and you will not be living in New York for seven years, I was accepted in your original culture, do not go far told I was no longer Puerto Rican because enough and you will not be accepted into your my Spanish was rusty, my gaze too direct, newly acquired culture. my personality too assertive for a Puerto Rican woman, and I refused to eat some A linguistic impact has occurred due to U.S. in- of the traditional foods like morcilla and fluence in Puerto Rican society. Puerto Ricans tripe stew. I felt as Puerto Rican as when I living in the U.S. have changed due to assimila- left the island, but to those who had nev- tion, but that is truly only natural given the cir- er left, I was contaminated by American- cumstances. People in general make the mistake isms, and therefore, had become less than of looking at it as a negative thing and it can be Puerto Rican. Yet, in the United States, looked at two different ways as this junction is my darkness, my accented speech, my fre- either causing a dulling of the Puerto Rican na- quent lapses into the confused silence be- tionality or making it more diverse. In reference tween English and Spanish identified me to code-switching Paul Anisman mentions that as foreign, non-American. “(278) “the error here is to assume that simply because the original tongue of an immigrant group is largely replaced by English, that this means that there is no longer a linguistic identity.” He dis- cusses what happened when New York born Italians, Jews, and Irish no longer utilized their national tongues but that “it is certainly con- ceivable that the English they speak may exhibit substantial differences which can in fact iden-

34 Spring 2016 Volume 5 FAURJ tify speakers as members of a particular ethnic References group.” Another point he makes regarding cul- 1. Anzaldúa, Gloria. Borderlands/La Frontera: ture and stereotypes is that: The New Mestiza. San Francisco: Aunt Lute Book Company, 1987. Print. 2. Anisman, Paul H. “Some Aspects of Code When we find survivals of culturally spe- Switching in New York Puerto Rican English.” cific behaviors in second or even third Bilingual Review / La Revista Bilingüe 2nd ser. generations, it is anthropologically naïve 2.1 (1975): 56-85. Web. 3 Mar. 2015. to assume that these behaviors are moti- 3. Cole, Dana. “A Linguistic Journey to the vated by some mysterious desire to accom- Border.” Journal of Applied Language Studies.1 modate stereotyped expectations. Rather, (2011): 77-92. Web. 08 Feb. 2015. it is anthropologically sound to conclude 4.“Economy: Operation Bootstrap.” Econo- that cohesiveness is nourished by common my: Operation Bootstrap (1947). Fundación behaviors, attitudes and values, and that Puertorriqueña De Las Humanidades and the try as we may to ignore these facts of life, National Endowment for the Humanities, n.d. we, as humans, perpetuate those behaviors Web. 03 Mar. 2015. having the most positive (favorable) social 5.“Esmeralda Santiago.” Voices From the Gaps : consequences within our most intimate University of Minnesota. University of Minneso- groups. (Anisman) ta, n.d. Web. 05 Apr. 2015. 6. Gastón, Nilita Vientós. “The Supreme Court of Puerto Rico and the Language Prob- He says this to show that people are not trying to lem.” Casa De Las Americas 70 & La Opinion be stereotyped, it just happens because they are (1972): 275-86. Print. 7. Heredia, Roberto R., and Brown, Jeffrey M.. finding commonalities between themselves and “Code-Switching.” Code-Switching. Texas A & M others around them in similar circumstances. In International University, n.d. Web. 08 Feb. 2015. relation to Puerto Rican identity and diaspora, 8. Lipski, John M. “Code-switching or Bor- the identity is not lost. The confluence of cul- rowing? No Sé so No Puedo Decir, You Know.” tures and the act of code-switching do not make Code-switching or Borrowing? No Sé so No a nationality lose itself—they just further come Puedo (2005): 1-16. Web. 8 Feb. 2015. together to create two diverse, well-cultured 9. “Operation Bootstrap.” Operation Bootstrap. types of people. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Apr. 2015. The confluence of Puerto Rican culture and Santiago, Esmerelda. When I was Puerto Rican. American culture is a truly fascinating subject. New York: Vintage Books, 2000. Print. The assimilation of both cultures is causing such beautiful integration, not just the integra- tion of people and language, but of art, music, ideas, thoughts, and new ways of thinking. The confluence of Spanish and English opens up the borders to creativity, especially linguistic cre- ativity. Like Dana Cole mentions, it has caused the “breaking free of reified linguistic structures and constraints, [providing] the means to open up new ways of knowing and thinking and [en- abling] a new set of dialogues to emerge.” That is what code-switching does—it breaks down the barriers, the constraints that keep two languages and cultures apart.

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